Blood and Groom, Dead Light District, The Lies Have It, and Frisky Business are available on Amazon Kindle!

Friday, August 2, 2013

Writing by the Seat of my Pants By Guest Blogger Caddy Rowland

Writing by the Seat of my Pants

By Caddy Rowland

Let me tell you right up front that I’m an
arty kind of gal, a rebellious kind of gal, the kind of gal that always got
“does not pay attention to instructions” written on her report cards in school.
Yeah, that was me. Always coloring outside the lines (literally) because I felt
predictable and boring staying within boundaries. In case you haven’t figured
it out yet, besides being a fiction writer I am an artist.

Before writing my first novel, I read all
kinds of books about writing. They all talked about how important it was to
outline your book. Do a story board, they said. List the characters, their
likes, desires, strengths, weaknesses. List the goals and the conflicts. On and
on and on. Hey, great. It works for some people, I get that. And you know what?
Perhaps they’re better writers for it. All I know is, if I had to plan out my
whole book before writing it, I’d be bored before I even sat down to write the
actual first chapter.

I had that same problem with acting in high
school. I would get some great parts; could knock it dead in auditions.
Unfortunately, by the time performance night came around, I was bored sh*tless
by the character and their situation. Move on, already, would ya? It was agony
putting feeling into those same old scenes over and over, keeping them fresh.
It was harsh reality that the movie star I had dreamed of becoming as a little
girl would never exist – because I’d go into a coma or go nuts and ransack the
movie set before any scene could possibly be finalized!

So, like with most things in life, I
decided to write my own way. I know it’s not original. Others do it. Many frown
on it or scratch their heads in puzzlement, wondering how anyone can write a
book without knowing what’s going to happen in it. That’s okay. I absolutely
love the challenge, the fear, of not knowing what’s going to happen. Not
knowing keeps me coming back to the keyboard. Not knowing keeps my mind sharp,
my inner self that needs to tune in to the characters and let them do the
telling instead of me.

The best part? I don’t even know what
characters are going to show up! Oh, I know the main character. A little. Like,
maybe,

a vague idea. But as I work, all of a sudden – BOOM – a new character
appears. As the words show up on the page, the character’s looks gel, their
personality blooms, and sometimes they become an extremely important part of
the story.

Some of my favorite characters happened just like that.Aunt Odette in Gastien Part 2. Liz and Billie
in Tristan. Keith and Tommy in Gastien: Circle of Destiny. These new characters
thrill me and endear themselves, making the story more complex.

Since I wrote a five book series, some
things had to be remembered and brought up again. And I had a few ideas that I
wanted to see happen. But did I make a storyboard? Um, no. I use a sheet of
paper with one word on it for each thing: Watch. Azure. Gangster. They mean
nothing to anyone but me, and I know exactly what I need to write by those
single words. At least, the idea. The words just come.

How? I already told you. The characters tell it,
not me.

* * *

When young Gastien Beauchamp flees the
farm for Paris, the late nineteenth century bohemian era is in full swing.
Color has always called to him, beseeching him to capture it on canvas and show
people a new way of seeing things. His father belittled his dream of being an
artist and tried to beat him into giving it up. The dream wouldn’t die, but
Gastien would have had he not left. He also yearns to become a great lover.
After the years of anguish he has endured at the hand of his father, it would
be heaven to feel pleasure instead of pain.

However, the city of Paris has a ruthless
agenda. Unless a man has money and connections, Paris unfeelingly crushes
dreams and destroys souls. With neither of the required assets, Gastien faces
living in alleys, digging in trash bins for food, and sleeping where a man is
often killed for his threadbare blanket.

Left with nothing but his dreams, Gastien
clings to the hope that the impossible is possible. He pushes on, regardless of
the cost.

Look
for Caddy Rowland’s new series coming out in the fall of 2013. It, too, will be
dark drama. It is about a sixteen-year-old girl who runs away from home, gets
abducted to become a prostitute in an upscale house of ill repute, and vows to
take down the owner and some of the powerful men who come to use underage
girls. The “There Was a House” series: a Four Part Story of Revenge. (First
book: House of Pleasure.)

Followers

About Me

"A chick who knows the ropes won't get tied up."
Blood and Groom was published in Nov. 2009. Dead Light District was released in March 2011. The Lies Have It was released in November 2011.
For more author/book info, please see www.jilledmondson.com or follow on Twitter @JillEdmondson